The motor compartment of a vehicle is often configured with an energy absorbing device, sometimes referred to as a crush box, located between a bumper and a longitudinally-extending motor compartment rail. The crush box is configured to deform in the event of an impact force on the bumper, to minimize deformation and energy transfer rearward to the motor compartment rail. Depending on the magnitude of the impact energy, the motor compartment rail may also deform. It is desirable to control the deformation in an axial (fore-aft) direction. Thin-walled motor compartment rails that have a “tall aspect ratio”, i.e., a relatively large height to transverse width ratio, are more susceptible to deformation in other than a fore-aft direction than thicker walled rails or rails with a lower aspect ratio. Adding wall thickness is one solution, but this adds weight to the vehicle, increases the rail cross-section size, and affects packaging.